TT-02 drops in the UK at last
Status: New built
Date: 7-May-2013
Comments: 14
Hi everyone,
Just picked up the new TT-02 chassis (140 mile round trip), plus a few hop ups too. I'm assuming the old TT-01 Aluminium propshaft fits (looking at instructions it seems to be same as TT-01). Thus, my setup will be as follows:-
CVA oil shocks
HPI Firebolt 15T brushed motor
Etronix Probe WP ESC (can handle up to 2s Lipos)
Spektrum SR200WP Receiver
Alturn AS700 Waterproof servo.
I'm not going to go totally mental with a brushless motor just yet (which makes a change for me) and the HPI Firebolt has a nice turn of speed in my M-06 chassis. I've not tried the Firebolt with a lipo pack before so it'll be interesting to see what the speed and run times are like.
The kit seems to use bushes instead of bearings, luckily I've got a whole load of spare metal ball-races to install. Tut tut Tamiya for cutting corners.
Looks like I've got another 540 silver can, 105BK ESC and plastic bushes to sling in my spares drawer.......
Going to start the build tonight and hopefully the weather will be nice again tomorrow to let me paint the body.
UPDATE: For those wanting to fit ball-race bearings instead of the naff plastic bearings that come with the kit, the bearing sizes and numbers are as follows:-
Main Propshaft (5x11x4) (quantity 4, Standard TT-01 size)
Front and Rear Diffs (8x12x4) (quantity 4, Standard TT-01 size)
Front and Rear Axle Hubs (5x10x4) (quantity 8, new...)
As stated in my comment, the propshaft is a completely different size to the TT-01. The shaft itself is 120mm (excluding the splines at either end that fit into the end hubs/shafts). The plastic part of the end hub/shaft is 15mm (i.e. excluding the metal shaft part of the hubs). Thus the total PLASTIC length of the propshaft with end hubs fitted is 150mm. I was hoping that the alloy end hubs of the TT-01 alloy hop-up could be used if I could find a suitable length alloy shaft, but unfortunately the hole to fit the locking pin for the spur gear is in a different place, so unless there's something from another kit that can be used it looks like we're stuck until Tamiya or a third party release an alloy propshaft and hub set.
A new shell required for shelf life
The stock shell no longer looks this tidy!
This is what it was like before stickers removed
Getting ready for the build.....
Comments
Chanco
I can confirm the TT-01 aluminium propshaft DOESN'T fit (TT-02 shaft much shorter) grrrrrr.
Crash Cramer
SWEEET looking body, too bad on the shaft, perhaps soon with hop ups, hurry up Tamiya.
Chanco
Further update on the build. The hubs for the axles require smaller bearings than normal (which I don't have in my spares) so I've had to use the supplied plastic bushes. Guess I'll be scanning eBay for the correct ball race bearings. The good news is that the propshaft and diffs use the same size bearings as the TT-01 which I've got lots of. The main build is virtually complete, will finish off in the morning, The wheel hexes have built in brake discs and there are three different offsets supplied. I've painted the discs silver (nice).
Chanco
Build complete and given her a brief run. She handles well but is phenomenally noisy. The stickers took an age to apply (it might not look it), there's about 8 stickers inside each of the headlights for example. I'm leaving the posts uncut for the minute until spares are available so I can use my TT-01 and XV-01 shells. Correction to my earlier post there are only two different hub offsets (four all the same and two wider offset hubs for the rear, but the rear axles are too short to use these by default). Running the 15T HPI Firebolt and a 2s Lipo she's got a nice turn of speed. I may investigate a brushless motor, but not until Tamiya release an alloy main propshaft (and I've changed the hub bushes for bearings).
Chanco
Also, she does come with a box to mount your receiver in to make it (almost) waterproof. I've not bothered with the box because fitting it means mounting the ESC on the servo and I didn't want the servo being subjected to that level of heat, plus my Rx is waterproof anyway.
Crash Cramer
That looks great and I hear you on the decals. It seems the cars with the fewest LOOKING have more than you can count. I don't like decals myself, but these are done quite well.
Chanco
Thanks Crash Cramer. I wasn't originally going to fit the full sticker set, but I'm not happy with the colour, so going to use this as the basher shell for the TT-02 and get another F458 Italia shell for shelf life, but paint that with a more funky colour. What's nice is it gives you the separate nose and tail badges so you can make it look street stock rather than race ready (going for street stock with the shelf queen shell).
Chanco
I've ordered some ball-race bearings for the wheel hubs. I've also updated the description which has all the bush/bearing sizes for those wanting to hop up immediately. I'm currently scanning the build manual, so will upload it shortly.
Chanco
I've scanned the build manual into a PDF document for anyone who's interested. It's 14mb in size (I've reduce the image size by 50 percent as the original file was 50mb......)
Crash Cramer
I think some of the coolest looking 458s I saw were at last years Ferrari Challenge race at the US Grand Prix. I will have to dig for my photos, saw a candy apple red Ferrari that just blew my mind, the MOMO sponsored car was pretty nice too.
Chanco
Decided I definitely don't like the racing stickers so I've removed them. It looks much neater now. Will upload photos when my camera has charged up.
Chanco
Ok, so I've removed the stickers (luckily I didn't bin the street spec nose and tail badge when applying the race decals). Looks much neater now imo. Also the 5x10x4 bearings for the axles arrived today, so she is now totally ball-raced. Just need Tamiya to release a metal propshaft now........
Chanco
Clipped a kerb the other day and it snapped the top and bottom mounts of the front right steering hub. Bonded it with superglue and it held until the first high speed corner (I.e. the first one.......). Super glue my arse! Nowhere in the UK seems to have any spares for the TT-02 yet, so I've had to order the required parts tree (51527) from Hong Kong.
Chanco
The stock Ferrari shell is looking a bit scuffed and tired now after a few 'incidents', so I felt it necessary to fit a new shell for shelf life.
Went with translucent silver over black rather than the purple specified in the build sheet. Only issue is the front shock tower on the TT-02 doesn't allow the front of the body to sit quite low enough for a GT3 racer. Obvious when running you would raise it up a notch or too anyway to allow unrestricted wheel travel (wheels are 3mm offsets to fill the arches), but when sitting on the shelf would be nice if body could sit at correct ground hugging level (rear is fine).
Whilst waiting for the replacement front hub to arrive from HK I investigated trying to fit the hub from TT-01, but they're completely different designs, so no joy on that front I'm afraid.
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